ARMA 2

The Basics: Military shooter with a focus on realism

Previous Time Spent: 46 minutes

Expectation of learning Curve: High

Why I bought this: The infamous Day-Z mod + a steam sale

My 3 Hours with the Game: After checking to see if any multiplayer servers were active, and finding them dead, I resigned myself to single player. I began with an intro scenario in which my compatriots and I were helicoptered in to an active battle zone, with the goal of moving about, shooting people, and holding territory. I played several other scenarios, and never gave the game the amount of effort or care needed to master it. 

First Impressions: This is a frightening game that alternates between somewhat boring movement, and extremely dangerous combat. Combat feels quite realistically dangerous, without any sort of health bar, or clear explanation of how injuries work. In my first firefight, I got lucky for a bit before taking a shot, and being brought down. I didn't die however, and spent some time waiting for first aid before returning to the fight. In other fights, I seemed to take injuries that caused me to bleed (at a hard to discern rate), die instantly, or be knocked down, presumably wounded. Not taking cover, or generally acting like an action hero/video game character were recipes for disaster and death. Additionally, combat tended to take place at such a long distance that it was difficult to tell where the enemy was firing from. 

My highlight: I eventually realized that the map covered an area much larger than my immediate combat zone, and in one of the missions decided to steal a pickup truck and leave. This actually worked, and I managed to make my way out of the combat zone (after taking a little bit of fire, resulting in a broken window). I followed the main dirt road out of the village we were supposed to be sweeping, and found myself in another village. This, and all subsequent villages were devoid of life, presumably ghost-towns fled due to the war I was taking part in. I drove some 3 km through farm villages before hitting a paved main road. From there, I drove through woods and mountains to the coast (stopping to swim in a pond). From the coast, I swam out to a small island and decided to end my 3 hour run as the unofficial lighthouse keeper of this empty country. 

My verdict: This game works really well at what it's trying to do, but that isn't exactly to my taste. So, I do not regret picking it up, but I can't see myself playing beyond 3 hours. Next time I'll be covering the Day-Z mod. 

-Jon

PS: Sorry for the long gap, I played a game called Amnesia that was more or less unplayable on my machine, and got frustrated and temporarily stopped the project.